Irish American Republicans Call for Obama/Holder Subpoena to be Quashed in Irish Archives – Boston College Case

The Irish American Republicans (www.IrishGOP.com) Call for Obama/Holder Subpoena to be Quashed in Irish Archives – Boston College Case

“We condemn, in the strongest terms, the actions of President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder in trying to take private property and invade the private research archives of an American University, and then turn them over to a Foreign Intelligence Service…” stated Irish American Republican Co-Chair Grant Lally. “The actions of the Obama administration are an utter disgrace, and a betrayal of the United States Bill of Rights and American national sovereignty.”

The Obama Administration – by its Attorney General Eric Holder – has issued Subpoenas to Boston College, directing the University to turn-over its extensive Research Archives on the Irish Troubles, to the Intelligence Services of the United Kingdom, a foreign nation. The Obama Administration has chosen to act pursuant to a Mutual Legal assistance Treaty (“MLAT”) between the US and UK. The Boston College Research Archives contain many personal interviews with participants in the Irish Troubles, and were obtained by Boston College under agreement that the archives were to be sealed until the death of the testators. The matter is before the United States District Court in Boston, subject to appeal before the US Court of Appeals, 1st Circuit.

“The research archives of an American University are sacred – not to be delivered to Foreign despots, by the government of the United States,” stated Irish American Co-Chair Jeffrey Cleary. “Nothing could have a more “chilling effect” upon America’s First Amendment rights to free speech, right to petition and due process, and the western tradition of academic freedom, then this cowardly stunt by the Obama Administration to deliver a private American Research archive to a foreign power.”

“The Irish American Republicans call upon the United States Court of Appeals, 1st Circuit, to uphold America’s constitutional rights, and reject the subpoena to Boston College,” concluded Irish American National President Kevin Hanratty.

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The value of the Oral Tradition is its democracy; it doesn't give to an intellectual elite the exclusive right to shape a communal memory and the collective memory. It makes into a common wealth the story of our shared lives. It's something that we share in common – and it's like a collection plate into which we can all put something: our stories, our myths and the ease with which we are able to, in some way, cross boundaries. - Cleophus Thomas, Jr.

First Circuit Court of Appeals

May, 2013

“… we must forcefully conclude that preserving the judicial power to supervise the enforcement of subpoenas in the context of the present case, guarantees the preservation of a balance of powers… In substance, we rule that the enforcement of subpoenas is an inherent judicial function which, by virtue of the doctrine of separation of powers, cannot be constitutionally divested from the courts of the United States. Nothing in the text of the US-UK MLAT, or its legislative history, has been cited by the government to lead us to conclude that the courts of the United States have been divested of an inherent judicial role that is basic to our function as judges.”

“… the district court acted within its discretion in ordering their production, it abused its discretion in ordering the production of a significant number of interviews that only contain information that is in fact irrelevant to the subject matter of the subpoena.”

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